BioWare explains the changes to Mass Effect: Andromeda’s dialogue system

In an interview with the Official Xbox Magazine, BioWare creative director Mac Walters has explained why Mass Effect: Andromeda will be moving away from the series’ Paragon vs Renegade morality system.

According to Walters, with Andromeda the developer intends to place more emphasis on players deciding whether they agree or disagree with a particular dialogue choice rather than choosing what they feel is right. With the original series, after deciding what path to follow players would typically choose the same Paragon or Renegade option for every conversation without a second thought. The new dialogue system will also also feature four new tones which will further help players decide how they want their characters to express themselves.

“So, Paragon and Renegade is gone. The reason they’re gone is because they felt very Shepard – they were very tied to the Shepard character, so they didn’t really make sense if we weren’t going to have Shepard as our protagonist. What we have now is based more around agreeing and disagreeing. The reason I like that is because in the trilogy it’s like, ‘I’m gonna play Paragon,’ and then you know which way you’re moving the stick on every conversation. You don’t have to think about it, because you’re just going to hit Paragon every time. With agree and disagree it changes by the circumstance and it changes by the character you’re talking to, so you have to actually be more engaged in what’s going on, to know if you’re going to do that.

“We’ve added in four tones and we’ll talk a little more in the future, but they basically allow other types of characters to express them[selves] in one of four different ways, and sometimes one of two different ways. And I think that gets back to that more traditional role-playing sort of feeling which is less about ‘Do I want to be good or bad,’ and more about ‘How do I want to express myself?'” — Mac Walters, Bioware creative director